1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to rear pillars of automobiles and, more particularly, to a reinforcement structure for such a rear pillar, with a reinforcing panel of the rear pillar being integrated with the upper end of a quarter panel at its upper end, thus forming a closed cavity within the rear pillar and increasing the structural strength of the rear pillar.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, a conventional automobile typically consists of a body and a chassis. The body forms a desired appearance of the automobile, with a plurality of parts having a variety of shapes and being appropriately assembled into a single body. The rear portion of an automobile body having a rear hatch T is shown in FIG. 1.
As shown in the drawing, the rear hatch T is hinged to the top edge of the rear portion of the body in a way such that the rear hatch T is rotatable around the hinged junction through a raise or lower type motion, thus being selectively opened or closed. The automobile having such a rear hatch T is also provided with two rear pillars 10 at opposite sides of the body's rear portion. FIG. 2 is a perspective view, showing the interior structure of a conventional rear pillar 10 designated by the circled portion C of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line A--A of FIG. 2. As shown in the drawings, two longitudinal rear pillars 10 upwardly extend at opposite sides of the body's rear portion.
Each of the rear pillars 10 comprises an inside upper quarter panel 12 and an inside lower quarter panel 14, which extend upwardly while being integrated together into a single body at ends thereof through a welding process. A reinforcing panel 16 extends upwardly at a position outside the inside upper quarter panel 12 while being spaced apart from the quarter panel 12. The above panel 16 is integrated with the welded junction of the two quarter panels 12 and 14 at its lower end. The upper end of the reinforcing panel 16 is integrated with the upper end of a side panel 18. Both a roof panel 20 and a rear upper roof rail 22 are commonly integrated with the welded junction of both the reinforcing panel 16 and the side panel 18. A rear lower roof rail 24 extends inside the rear upper roof rail 22 while being spaced apart from the rail 22, and is integrated with the upper end of the inside upper quarter panel 12.
In the interior of each rear pillar 10, the lower end of the reinforcing panel 16 is integrated with the upper end of the inside lower quarter panel 14 as best seen in FIG. 2. On the other hand, the upper end of the reinforcing panel 16 is integrated with both the rear upper roof rail 22 and a roof side rail 26. In a brief description, the reinforcing panel 16, the rear upper roof rail 22, and the roof side rail 26 form an upper corner portion of the rear pillar 10.
In the above structure, the upper corner portion of the rear pillar 10 absorbs impact through the inside upper quarter panel 12, the reinforcing panel 16, the rear upper roof rail 22, and the roof side rail 26 when any impact is applied thereto.
However, the conventional rear pillar 10 undesirably allows noise to be transmitted from tires of wheels to the channel between the rear upper and rear lower roof rails 22 and 24 through the channel between the inside upper quarter panel 12 and the reinforcing panel 16 during operation of the automobile. Therefore, the conventional rear pillar 10 does not accomplish a desired reduction in operational noise during operation of an automobile. This makes passengers within the passenger compartment feel uncomfortable.
In addition, the lower end of the reinforcing panel 16 is integrated with the upper end of the inside lower quarter panel 14 through a welding process, and so a desired structural strength is accomplished at the lower portion of the rear pillar 10. However, the connection structure between the reinforcing panel 16 and the rear lower roof rail 24 does not have a desired strength, and so the conventional rear pillars 10 are not suitable for supporting the raise or lower type rear hatch T.
Such a problem is caused by the structural limit in that two or more hinge members (not shown), used for rotatably holding the raise or lower type rear hatch T, are mounted to the top edge of the body's rear portion formed by both the rear upper roof rail 22 and the rear lower roof rail 24. However, the two roof rails 22 and 24 do not form a desired structural strength capable of effectively supporting such hinge members.